Blackberry 2005 Annual Report Download - page 10

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R&D and Manufacturing
Commitment to innovation is a core value at RIM and our R&D teams are focused on continuing to deliver
industry-leading solutions. There are approximately 1,000 engineers in RIM’s R&D organization focused
on areas such as antenna design, RF engineering, industrial design and software engineering. During
the past year, RIM introduced several new devices including the BlackBerry 7250, BlackBerry 7520,
BlackBerry 7290, and BlackBerry 7100 Series. These new devices were also supported by a wide range of
software enhancements for both BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Internet Service. We continue
to strive to reduce costs in our hardware platform and were especially pleased this year to introduce new
lower cost devices. We are also especially proud to have recently achieved ISO 9001 registration of our
contact center, software, R&D and manufacturing operations. Registration to ISO 9001 is evidence of the
effectiveness of RIM’s quality management systems.
Projects underway during fiscal 2006 include: new devices focused on next generation network technologies
including EDGE, EvDO, UMTS and WiFi®; further upgrades to BES and BlackBerry MDS; new technologies to
enhance BIS; ongoing support for licensing programs such as BlackBerry Connect and BlackBerry Built-In;
and continued development of the BlackBerry Network Operations Center.
On the manufacturing front, RIM shipped approximately 2.5 million devices during the year. Our existing
122,000 square foot manufacturing facility can currently accommodate production of approximately
5 million devices per year and will be expanded in the coming year to encompass an additional 70,000
square feet. RIM also began an outsourcing relationship with Elcoteq®during 2005 for the manufacture
of certain devices. In addition to capacity planning, RIM’s manufacturing operations continue to focus on
lowering costs and improving the quality and reliability of BlackBerry products. RIM currently employs
approximately 800 people in manufacturing operations.
The Year Ahead
We are extremely pleased with the progress made in fiscal 2005 and look forward to the year ahead. We have
already surpassed 3 million BlackBerry subscribers in May and we expect this pace of growth to continue
throughout the year. We plan to continue launching new device and software products to maintain our
market leadership in the enterprise market and to expand this leadership into the prosumer segment.
In addition, we will continue to support our licensing partners in bringing new BlackBerry-enabled devices
to market and will work with ISVs to enhance the BlackBerry experience through value-added applications.
We believe that we are in the early days of this market and there is a tremendous opportunity ahead of us.
We plan to focus on executing our business strategy to take advantage of this opportunity and believe our
efforts will translate into continued market leadership and strong financial performance in the year ahead.
Once again, we would like to thank our shareholders for their support in the past year and we look forward
to reporting back to you next year.
Jim Balsillie Mike Lazaridis
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